I'm surprised no one has come up with the idea that maybe Brady just, y'know, accidentally broke his phone in the last couple months? I mean he's posted videos of himself jumping off waterfalls and sh*t. We know a guy like Brady is regularly engaged in activities potentially hazardous to a thing made of glass and aluminum. It's no stretch of the imagination to think he may have just accidentally busted his fragile iPhone recently and had to buy a new one. Then when they asked about the phone at the appeal, Brady could've just said "oh yeah, I actually broke the screen on that recently while cliff-diving, had to buy a new one." Then the NFL holds this information and leaks it right before upholding the appeal, stating "Brady destroyed his phone". Technically true in this case, but the implication they are trying to make (that he destroyed it due to guilt) is nowhere near accurate.
I mean seriously, there's a reason there's so many "iDropped" repair shops and all that crap everywhere. These devices are fragile and people break them all the time. Brady is human just like the rest of us.